Change How a Contact is Filed in Outlook

If someone asked you how contacts were alphabetized in Outlook, you would probably say that they’re done by last name, right? And you’d be absolutely . . . wrong.

The File As setting determines the sort order in the Contacts list. By default, when you create a new contact, the File As setting for it is set to Last Name, First Name. But you can change that to some other setting if you prefer, such as the company name or the first name. Set it to whatever way you think you will search for that contact in the future.

Here is how you change a contact’s File As setting to the business name.

Double-click the contact to reopen it.

Open the File As drop-down list and select ACME Corporation, as shown in this figure.

If you want both the company name and the person’s name to show, choose one of the File As options that includes both. The one that appears first will be how it is alphabetized. For example, Strong, Terry (ACME Corporation) alphabetizes by Strong but also includes ACME Corporation in the title.

Click the Save & Close button.

The contact closes. Notice that it now appears alphabetized in the A section, at the top of the contact list, and that ACME Corporation appears as the top line.

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